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 Personal Assistant Systems


Microsoft AI's next leap forward: Helping you play video games

#artificialintelligence

Could you be playing the next big video game with your voice? Voice assistants can seem supersmart. Ask my Amazon Alexa why the sky is blue, and you'll get a lesson in light refraction through the atmosphere. Ask it what CNET is and things start to break down. "In addition CNET currently has region-specific and language-specific editions."


Logitech adds Amazon's Alexa skills to its ZeroTouch voice-control smartphone mount

PCWorld

Logitech has announced a new version of the app for its ZeroTouch Android smartphone mounts (there is no iPhone version) that incorporates Amazon's Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant. Once ZeroTouch owners install the new app, they'll gain a raft of new features, including the ability to control any Alexa-compatible device in their smart home, even if they don't own an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot. The ZeroTouch itself is available in two configurations that enable hands-free control of a docked smartphone. The ZeroTouch Air Vent ($59.99 at Amazon) clips to one of the car's air vents, while the ZeroTouch Dashboard ($79.99 at Amazon) mounts to the car's dashboard or windshield. Both models have Bluetooth radios that automatically launch the ZeroTouch app when the phone comes into contact with the mount.


Bragi Boldly Goes Where Apple's AirPods Haven't Gone Yet

Forbes - Tech

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Silicon sleeves for the Bragi Dash, what founder Nikolaj Hviid calls an in-ear computer. Back in 2013 a Danish designer named Nikolaj Hviid took his prototype of wireless earbuds to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. to get some feedback.


You, and (A)I โ€“ IDEO Stories

#artificialintelligence

How did you decide who you're spending your life with: your partner, your friends, colleagues? If you're like most people, you probably trusted your gut. But as everyone who's broken up with a lover, let a friendship fade, or quit a job because of their boss, our stomach sometimes leads us astray. We frown at the idea of objectively evaluating a husband, friend, or work buddy, but these incredibly complex decisions are among the most important we ever make. These people -- our community -- are, literally life-saving, as we get older.


Our Bots, Ourselves

#artificialintelligence

In the coming decades, artificial intelligence will replace a lot of human jobs, from driving trucks to analyzing X-rays. But it will also work with us, taking over mundane personal tasks and enhancing our cognitive capabilities. As AI continues to improve, digital assistants--often in the form of disembodied voices--will become our helpers and collaborators, managing our schedules, guiding us through decisions, and making us better at our jobs. We'll have something akin to Samantha from the movie Her or Jarvis from Iron Man: AI "agents" that know our likes and dislikes, and that free us up to focus on what humans do best, or what we most enjoy. Anyone who's used Siri (on Apple products) or Alexa (on Amazon Echo) has already spoken with a digital assistant.


Amazon's Alexa is stepping out of the Echo and into the car

#artificialintelligence

Amazon's Alexa voice assistant is making its way into cars in the UK, bringing voice controlled music and even the ability to remotely control smarthome devices onto the road. The freeing of Alexa from the confines of Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot speaker is through the launch of the company's Alexa Voice Services in the UK, which ports the cloud-based Alexa to third-party devices. The same service launched in the US in June 2015, and was put into some cheaper speakers and other devices. One of the first systems to bring Alexa to cars will be Logitech's ZeroTouch, a ยฃ50 dashboard mount for a phone that works with an app running on Android smartphones. Users simply put their hand up so it can be seen by the smartphone's camera and command Alexa like they would at home.


50 Shades Of Fake: How To Protect Your Product From Copycats In China

Forbes - Tech

Buyers and vendors are seen at Shenzhen's Seg electronics market, a popular place for hardware startup entrepreneurs to buy components for their inventions and prototypes in Shenzhen, China. Did you know that your product might be copied in China even before you ship it? While copying happens elsewhere, including Facebook blatantly copying Snapchat features or Google Home being a strong echo of Amazon's echo, Chinese copycats can be particularly aggressive. Realistically, the gigantic Chinese supply chain, built over decades with some of the dollars from our past and future iPhones, cannot possibly move overnight (or over a U.S. presidential term). As a result, most high-tech manufacturing will remain in China--at least for a while.


Silicon Valley Hedge Fund Takes On Wall Street With AI Trader

#artificialintelligence

Babak Hodjat believes humans are too emotional for the stock market. So he's started one of the first hedge funds run completely by artificial intelligence. "Humans have bias and sensitivities, conscious and unconscious," says Hodjat, a computer scientist who helped lay the groundwork for Apple's Siri. "It's well documented we humans make mistakes. For me, it's scarier to be relying on those human-based intuitions and justifications than relying on purely what the data and statistics are telling you."


Paedophiles luring kids into nude selfies using Mylol app

Daily Mail - Science & tech

A warning went out to millions of parents today that schoolchildren could be sending nude selfies after being groomed by paedophiles through a teenage dating app. The children are being lured into sending sexual, 'inappropriate' images of themselves through the Mylol website and mobile dating app. It's feared'pervert' adults are tricking teenagers into sending naked images of themselves. A warning went out to millions of parents today that schoolchildren could be sending nude selfies after being groomed by paedophiles through teenage dating app Mylol. The dating app and site has been labelled as'Tinder for teens' by concerned parents Mylol is a site described as the'number one teen dating site in the US, Australia, UK and Canada.'


How to Keep Amazon Echo and Google Home From Responding to Your TV

WIRED

Voice assistants such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home are pretty smart, but they're not yet sharp enough to understand the difference between TV and reality. A Google commercial during yesterday's Super Bowl prompted Home to play whale noises, flip the hallway lights on, and recite a substitute for cardamom. As a series of actors barked "OK Google" commands on TV, the devices started doing what they were asked to do. Android phones with Google Assistant may have done the same thing. It was just doing its job.